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SECDEF HEADS TO THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is enroute to Saudi Arabia today, his first stop on his third trip to the Middle East in just over a year, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby announced.

In Saudi Arabia, the defense secretary will participate in a U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council defense ministerial.

“This meeting agenda will be the first U.S.-GCC defense ministers forum since 2008, and it provides an important and timely opportunity for the United States to step up cooperation with Gulf nations as we confront common regional security challenges related to Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq,” Kirby said. http://1.usa.gov/RD8uxa

— ON THE AGENDA — TERRORIST THREATS FROM SYRIA: The Wall Street Journal’s Ellen Knickmeyer reports: “The Saudi government alleged Sunday that Saudi recruits of a radical Islamist group in Syria plotted with others inside the kingdom to assassinate leading religious figures and security officials …

“Until now, the rebel group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was believed to have confined its activities largely to Syria and Iraq. If the Saudi allegations are true, this would mark the first known attempt by ISIS to plan an attack in the kingdom.” http://on.wsj.com/1l0g7Gv

— THEN ON TO JORDAN: From Saudi Arabia, Hagel heads to Jordan, where he’ll discuss its cooperation on the conflict in Syria with the Jordanian chief of defense.

DEMPSEY TO HOST CHINESE GENERAL LATER THIS WEEK: Joint Chiefs ChairmanGen. Martin Dempsey will host Fang Fenghui, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Thursday at the Pentagon, where they’ll hold a joint press conference.

“General Fang will arrive in San Diego on Tuesday, where he will be hosted by the U.S. 3rd fleet and tour the aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, a Littoral Combat Ship, USS Coronado, and he will visit the U.S. Marine Corps recruit depot there in San Diego,” Kirby said.

HAGEL DOESN’T LOVE THE HASC BILL, via POLITICO’s Philip Ewing: “‘I can tell you that the secretary was certainly not pleased by the House Armed Services Committee markup of the budget,’ said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby. Hagel, he said, ‘firmly stands by — resolutely stands by — the budget that we submitted because it was strategic in tone and because it was tied to a defense strategy that made sense for the kind of future we’re going to face.’” http://politico.pro/1mMMEFx

— BUT THERE IS STILL LOTS OF TIME FOR CHANGE: “We’re very early on in the process,” Kirby said Friday. “I know the [House committee] completed their markups. The secretary certainly hopes that when it gets to the Senate and into conference, the Congress will prove capable of seeing the wisdom of the decisions we’ve made, being willing to make those same tough choices and put national security first over parochial interests.”

THE DEBATE OVER WHO SHOULD RUN U.S. DRONE STRIKES GROWS MORE INTENSE: Last year, President Barack Obama said the administration intended to shift the U.S. drone campaign from the CIA to the U.S. military. A year later, that transfer has yet to happen and the behind-the-scenes debate is creeping into public view.

The LA Times’ Ken Dilanian writes that some in Congress believe the military’s “Joint Special Operations Command is not as careful as the CIA and shouldn't be given responsibility for drone killings.”

Meanwhile, “Pentagon officials dispute that, saying that the joint command follows the policy President Obama disclosed in a speech a year ago. It bars drone strikes unless there is a ‘near certainty’ that civilians won't be killed.” http://lat.ms/1mMO9Uh

Morning D suspects this fight is going to get a little bit uglier, before it resolves itself … if it does resolve itself.

HERE’S A STORY RIGHT OUT OF ‘THE BOURNE IDENTITY,’ via The New York Times’ Eric Schmitt: “A United States Special Operations commando and a Central Intelligence Agency officer in Yemen shot and killed two armed Yemeni civilians who tried to kidnap them while the Americans were in a barbershop in the country’s capital two weeks ago, American officials said on Friday.

“The two Americans, attached to the United States Embassy, were whisked out of the volatile Middle East nation within a few days of the shooting, with the blessing of the Yemeni government, American officials said.” http://nyti.ms/1l20VbI

— AND AN UPDATE, from The New York Times’ Shuaib Almosawa and Schmitt: “While much about the encounter remains unclear, a Yemeni official said Saturday that the two Yemeni assailants were part of a cell linked to Al Qaeda that had planned and executed several attacks on foreigners in the country. Whether by design or chance, the official said, the Americans had apparently disrupted a kidnapping ring that government officials blame for killing a Frenchman last week, kidnapping a Dutch couple last year, trying to assassinate a German diplomat last month, and attacking the central prison here in February, freeing 19 inmates.” http://nyti.ms/Qx7hpX

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— GATES WARNS THERE ARE NO MILITARY OPTIONS IN NIGERIA OR UKRAINE, reports POLITICO’s Byron Tau: The U.S. can provide assistance, especially in matters of intelligence, but beyond that, there’s little the military should be doing to rescue the nearly 300 schoolgirls captured by Islamic militants, Gates said. http://politi.co/1ojceS9

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN AFGHANISTAN’S ELECTION, reports The New York Times’ Alissa J. Rubin: “Abdullah Abdullah, the front-runner in Afghanistan’s presidential election campaign, announced Sunday that he had won the endorsement of Zalmay Rassoul, the third-place candidate, as part of his effort to gather enough support to win in the next round of voting.” http://nyti.ms/1gdjwEI

— INSURGENT ATTACKS ARE UP, SAYS ICG: A new report from the International Crisis Group shows violence steadily rising across Afghanistan as U.S. troops leave, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Margherita Stancati. http://on.wsj.com/1jiiZvu

— Meanwhile, the Taliban attacked Kabul's international airport with rockets today, one of several attacks that marked the start of the group’s annual summer offensive. BBC: http://bbc.in/1laPXja

A LOOK AT THE ARMY’S EFFORT TO REIMAGINE ITSELF, via Foreign Policy’s Rosa Brooks: “Why does the United States have over 8,000 soldiers stationed in peacetime Kuwait? More broadly, why does a country so seemingly determined to avoid another land war need a large standing army, with troops all over the globe? Won't the Navy and the Air Force, with their high-tech toys, be better suited to the conflicts of the future than the Army's half a million grunts, with their rucksacks and muddy boots?

“Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, thinks he can answer those questions, and whether they know it or not, the soldiers stationed in Kuwait are part of his ambitious effort to reimagine the service.” http://atfp.co/REzNXU

SPEED READ

— Iran said yesterday it has succeeded in copying the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone it captured in December 2011. The Guardian: http://goo.gl/HBON3M

— French President Francois Hollande says the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia would continue “for now.” AFP: http://goo.gl/C9n2aG

— With declining budgets, it’s even more important for contractors to follow the money as the military services “reassign, reprioritize and re-scope program dollars,” writes Deltek’s Deniece Peterson. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/SR3tCc

— House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) says the Obama administration’s pivot or rebalance to Asia is sending the wrong signal to U.S. allies in other parts of the world. The Hill: http://goo.gl/KHKz7f

— Drone advocates worry that a near-collision over Florida could lead the FAA to write stricter rules for unmanned aircraft. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1qv8b7f

— Senior Iranian officials say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has won in Syria and that U.S. support of opposition forces has failed. The Guardian: http://goo.gl/sgRpwp

— In an op-ed, Sen. Rand Paul (R- Ky.) writes that Congress should be able to review the legal memos that justify execution without a trial of an American citizen abroad as it considers the nomination of a judge to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1gcBhUO

— The Justice Department is trying to salvage what’s left of the case against former security contractor Blackwater for killings in Iraq. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/RAbBFV

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